Monday, November 16, 2009

Bidding Wars Resume


A TWO-BEDROOM apartment on the Upper West Side is listed at $1.595 million and sells within two weeks after nine prospective buyers race to outbid one another, ultimately pushing the price to nearly $1.8 million.

Sound like the pandemonium of the last real estate boom, when anyone with a pulse could get a mortgage and it seemed as if prices could go only up?

It wasn’t. Try last month.

A year after the economy headed into a tailspin and at a time when most New Yorkers are still wondering whether real estate prices have hit bottom, brokers say that bidding wars are back. They are breaking out in all sectors of the market, from $400,000 one-bedrooms in Brooklyn Heights to $7 million apartments with grand park views at 15 Central Park West, and from stately Park Avenue prewar apartments to new condominiums in Williamsburg.

In many cases, the jousting buyers start and end below the asking price. But in others, multiple bidders are pushing prices well above list price. To add a confounding twist, many of the bids are being made by buyers willing and able to pay all cash.


Click to read more.


Posted by: Kelsey Hoffman

2 comments:

  1. As much as I was hoping to get my first apartment in NYC for a discounted price to take advantage of the economy I am grateful for the real estate turn around. This is a great positive article!
    Posted By: Sara Sindelar

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  2. This article is ver interesting. I can't beilve people are actually willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash. Thats just crazy..but then agian so is a $7 million apartment.

    Posted By: Meredith Anderson

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